


Break in the Ether

by faino



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Dad!Tony, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Iron Man - Freeform, Mary Parker - Freeform, Pepperony - Freeform, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Richard Parker - Freeform, Time Travel, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, may parker - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-06-25 08:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15636855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faino/pseuds/faino
Summary: Tony Stark discovers a way to undo The Snap. He goes back in time to the Battle of New York to change the course of the future. But will he change more than he meant to?Heavy focus on Tony&Peter, will update tags as story progresses.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Super pumped about this concept, y'all! about a 10 chapter fic, and the mind-blowing part will come in chapter 2-3, so hold onto your hats.

“Remember, you can’t change anything else in your interaction with Loki. Your encounter has to maintain the reality we know today, or else the potential implications will be…significant.” Dr. Strange’s voice spoke urgently.

“I know, I know. Give them the modified tesseract. Tell no one, even the Avengers. Then get out of there.” Tony repeated with a bit of annoyance. 

The plan had taken nearly 3 years to discover and implement. Tony and Steve had found Ant Man about a year ago. He had picked up a traveler in the quantum realm: Strange, or at least some version of him. Strange had transported part of his soul there from Titan, before The Snap. He knew Scott would find him. 

With Bruce’s help, they had spent the past year creating a device to reconfigure the molecular structure of the space stone, inserting a subtle, yet critical flaw. 

The plan? Access the quantum realm, send Tony back in time, to his 2012-self. The battle would proceed as normal, up until the last day. Then, Tony, disguised as a SHIELD agent would package the tesseract for transport to Asgard with Loki and Thor, altering the Space Stone in the Tesseract core with their device. Thus, when Tony went forward in time, to moments before The Snap, the preceding reality would be unaltered. Thanos would still acquire the stones. He would still snap his fingers. However, The Snap would malfunction, taking him with it. It was foolproof. 

And if it failed, if The Snap still took effect…Tony would wait. He would go through the next three years again. He would prepare, until Scott found Strange. Then he would sit them down and explain the plan. Maybe they could figure it out quicker the second time around. 

Tony hated that idea. Having to repeat the horrors of The Snap, the aftermath and the trauma. But maybe it would get easier a second time. He just hoped it wasn’t a third, fourth, or fifth time.

He was already upset enough that they could only figure out a way to time jump forward to The Snap. When he had changed the Space Stone, he would activate his quantum jump and be transported back to Titan, in the future. But the jump only worked for that time, that place, and only for Tony. It was the best they could do right now, and if all went according to plan, it should be all they needed. 

Right? Tony’s doubts started rearing their heads. What if the jump malfunctioned? It had never been tested. What if he couldn’t change the stone? A thousand what-if’s filled his head. As soon as he went back in time, he would be alone. The plan would be completely on his shoulders. 

“There was no other way,” Strange had said. It had to be him. He hated it, but it had to be that way.

Tony had zoned out from the present meeting long ago, and now his nerves were making his breaths short and his body shaky. He got up and left the other men silently, walking out of the conference room and down the hall. He still had 12 hours before the mission, and he figured he’d earned some time to get his head on straight.

For the past three years, this goal had consumed him. He hardly slept at first. Now, it wasn’t too much better. He’d close his eyes, but he always heard the same sounds: the sound of his friends being turned to ash, the memory of Pepper’s voice breaking up over the phone, and…Peter. He stopped in his tracks as he remembered his name. 

Peter had hit him hardest. That moment…it had changed him. It was everything he had ever hoped for meeting everything he had ever feared…and losing. It was three years getting to know the kid, three years becoming a mentor and father figure to him, gone. And it was all his fault. He had replayed that scene a thousand times. The way Peter had begged him for his life. The realization that, for once, there was nothing Tony could do. Peter had sensed it, too, as Tony had held his head in his hand. He knew his mentor, his idol, had failed him. And yet, Peter had been the one to apologize. That haunted Tony. There was so much he should have said in that moment. There was so much he could have done in the years leading up to it: treated Peter better, told him how much he meant to him, told him to call him “Tony.” Or he could’ve been stronger. He could’ve built better armor. Then he could’ve beat Thanos. Then they wouldn’t have lost.

At that moment, Tony was snapped back to the present by the sound of Morgan’s pitter-pattering feet entering the room. 

“Hey, sweetie.” Tony picked up his little girl, placing her on his lap. “Mommy and you just get back from the park?” 

When Tony had returned to earth, seeing Pepper was the only thing that held him together. He couldn’t have made it, he couldn’t have endured, if she had been taken, too. And Morgan? She had given him new meaning, new purpose. She made him smile. He didn’t think he’d ever do that again at first.

He smiled. But a part of him was still stuck on Titan. The smiles were never full. The joy was always temporary. He had everything he had wanted, but a part of him had died three years ago. There was no way to avoid it.

And he wasn’t the only one. The whole world carried an inherent sadness now. No one walked around fully happy. Everyone had lost someone. 

It’s crazy what large-scale loss can do to people. The world was almost…kinder now. Like everyone knew to be gentle, to be patient with one another. The fake fronts and trivial pursuits had died with The Snap. People were much more present now, used to the constant feeling of holding back tears. 

Morgan snuggled into Tony’s chest, and he looked down at her, taking her in. 

If he went back in time, if the plan succeeded, Morgan wouldn’t exist in the new reality. The past three years would be gone. Part of him was eager to see that day, but when he looked at Morgan, he remembered the good times, few but substantial. He remembered the day Pepper told him she was pregnant. He remembered holding Morgan for the first time, showing her to Rhodey. She had been everything to him. 

But when Scott got out of the quantum realm with Strange, things were different. His sense of urgency was reignited. He held Morgan less and less and spent more and more time in the lab, or experimenting in the quantum realm. 

Pepper had begged him to stop. One night, it reached a boiling point.

“Honey,” he had said, defeated. “I can’t stop. I’m never going to stop.” 

It was the truth. In another world, Pepper would have left him and taken Morgan. But this wasn’t just Tony’s stubbornness. Not this time. This time, Pepper understood the stakes. She didn’t like it. She wished it didn’t have to be like this. But he was right. The world—the universe—needed him, more than she did. 

Right on cue, Pepper walked in, her eyes red from crying. 

“Pep,” Tony said, placing Morgan down on the ground to meet her with a hug. 

“So, today’s the day, huh?” she said through tears.

Tony sighed, a painful expression on his face. “I…I love you. I’m still going to see you, when I fix this.”

“Fix it?” Pepper looked down at Morgan. 

“Pep. You know I don’t regret it. Not a moment. I—I’m sorry it has to be like this.” He didn’t know what else to say. And, quite frankly, he didn’t have the energy to go through this again. Especially not today.

Pepper remained silent. She didn’t know what to say, either.

“How about we do family Thai and ice cream. I can’t think of a better way to…to, uh.”

“—say goodbye?” Pepper cut in. She bit her lip and attempted a smile. “I’d like that.” 

“Ice cream!” Morgan shouted. 

Tony picked her up off the ground excitedly, holding her tightly. “You’re right, bug. Ice cream!” He held Morgan with one arm and pulled Pepper into a hug with the other.

 

They went to the Thai food nearby. Peter had loved to eat there. Around his junior year, they had started the tradition of Sunday night Thai with May every week. It was part of Tony’s attempt to calm May down after she had found out about Spider-Man. He thought it had been working, that she was really starting to like him. 

But that had fallen to bits the day he showed up at her apartment, without Peter.

When she had opened the door, she looked like she’d been crying. But then, for a second, hope sparked in her eyes. She looked to Tony’s right and left, and upon seeing no one, she stepped into the hall, gaze expectant. But no one was there. Tony had come alone.

“I knew it,” she had said, before the sobs erupted. 

She had called Tony a lot of things that afternoon. And he had simply nodded and taken it. She was right. It was his fault. He never should’ve dragged him into this. 

“Honey?” Pepper snapped him out of his thoughts, sensing the rabbit hole he was entering. “We’re here.” 

Tony looked up, smiled artificially, and went to grab the door for his family.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just pretend all the time travel makes sense. I put a lot of thought into the implications of various realities, but this stuff hurts your head if you think about it too much.
> 
>  
> 
> All I can say is, good luck Marvel, if they decide to use time travel/alternate realities.

_May 4, 2012. New York._

Quantum transport was a strange thing. One moment he was bidding Bruce, Steve, Scott and Strange farewell. The next, he was flying through New York, blasting at Chitauri aliens. It felt like he had just woken up from a dream. The exit point for his quantum travel wasn’t as precise as his jump forward would be; they couldn’t predict where exactly he’d pop up in the Battle of New York. But this was before the Tesseract hand-off, so it would do.

Tony continued blasting the targets on his heads-up. Vision’s voice—no wait, it was JARVIS—instructed him on where to fire. It took Tony a second. After all, he hadn’t been in combat since Thanos. But soon, he found his rhythm.

He had played back the memories of this battle a thousand times through BARF. But being here now, it was so much realer.

When Banner arrived, clothes tattered and riding a motor bike, Tony smiled. He knew what happened next.

They spent the next half hour kicking alien butt. Tony took down the massive ships with the Hulk’s help and watched as the Avengers worked like a well-oiled machine. It had been a while since he had witnessed that. As he stopped to rest on the ground, he saw Steve grunting under the force of a Chitauri assault. He flew over and knocked off the assailants.

“Thanks,” Steve nodded.

Tony nodded and blasted off to a nearby street to continue his quick rest. He had missed being friends with Cap. The Cap he had spent the past three years with was so different from this one. He was untrusting, callused, and stern. This Cap was eager, optimistic, naïve…

Tony was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of a young child crying. He probably wouldn’t have noticed it before, but the past years with Morgan had made him more receptive to a child’s cries. This was the cry of a terrified child.

He looked down the street to see a pack of aliens cornering a family, two parents and their son. They were cowering next to their car, completely surrounded.

“Crawl under the car, hurry,” the father instructed the boy. He continued to cry.

“Hey there, pick on someone your own size,” Tony interjected, blasting onto the scene and hovering before the aliens. Their gaze shot up to meet his, and he launched into a decisive attack, quickly disarming them.

The kid’s parents looked up in astonishment. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it. Happy trails,” he said as he took off, not waiting to see the kid emerge from hiding spot. He had had enough resting, he decided. Time to get back into it.

It was kind of fun, he had to admit, knowing the outcome. Capturing Loki a second time sure felt good. Part of him was sad, however, remembering how Thor had described Loki’s death at the hands of Thanos. So Tony spoke harshly to Loki in the Tower, and even revisited one of his favorite one liners: “We have a Hulk.” But inside his head, his heart broke for the guy. If he could’ve acted differently, he would’ve said something. He would’ve told him he knew he meant well. But, then again, maybe Loki didn’t even know that himself, not yet at least.

Time travel was a crazy thing.

Before long, Tony was preparing himself for the part he had hated, the part he had cringed at each time it replayed in BARF.

“I’ve got a nuke coming in, it’s gonna blow in less than a minute…and I know just where to put it.”

Steve spoke up on the comms. “Stark. You know that’s a one-way trip.”

The words were so familiar that Tony knew them before he even said them. He knew he’d make it. He knew the outcome. But it still terrified him. His heart still pounded. His vision swam.

 _Look sharp, Stark._ He told himself. _Why was this still so scary to him?_

“Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?” Jarvis asked.

Tony knew she wouldn’t pick up. He knew it would only make him worry more. But he did it anyway. _Stick to the timeline. Don’t change anything._

“Might as well,” he responded.

His vision grew clouded and dark, and his eyes closed as the “CALL FAILED” message displayed on his heads-up, contrasted against a magnificent fiery spectacle before him.

He knew the drill. But still, his heart sank as his limbs grew slack.

 

 

Later that evening, they captured Loki and met with Fury to decide his fate. As Tony walked through the destroyed streets, he passed Grand Central Terminal, destroyed by a giant Chitauri beast.

 _Vulture_ , he thought. That beast and its tech had started his crime ring. If he could just scoop in and remove the Chitauri tech, then…

No. No tampering. As much as Tony hated knowing the Vulture crushed Peter under a building, he couldn’t change the future. He forced himself to walk in the opposite direction.

“You okay, Tony? You seem a little…distracted.” Steve interrupted Tony’s train of thought.

“Uh, yeah, just thinking about stuff. Saw a cool shawarma place over there, for later, ya know.”

He brushed it off and Steve didn’t press him. It was nearly go time.

Hours later, he was in full SHIELD tactical gear, escorting Loki from Fury’s custody to Thor, the stone-altering device in his pants pocket.

There was no BARF for this. This was uncharted territory. He stuck to the plan, his mind focused and his attention unwavering.

No one saw a thing. He packaged the Tesseract in its secure vessel, placing the device within a few inches of it. It glowed and trembled momentarily, before the glow subsided and returned to normal.

Done. He did it.

As he subtly exited the building, with help from JARVIS in overriding their security, he breathed a sigh of relief. The rest was easy, right?

He escorted Thor and Loki to their departure point, along with the rest of the team, just to make sure the Space Stone worked and they went on their way just as normal.

As they beamed up into the ether, Tony couldn’t help but grin. The path he started them on was looking less and less grim.

Bruce was beckoning him over to the car. As much as he wanted to relive science-bro camp, his work was done.

“One second, gotta make a call.”

Tony stepped off to the side, and pulled up his watch. A few button taps later and his thumb hovered over a red button. He hesitated. He thought of Morgan. As soon as he pressed that button, he’d be the only one to remember—her, and everything else in the universe, too.

There was no other way. It had to be him.

Why did he have to bear the weight of that memory? He sighed. Now wasn’t the time. He had decided. He pressed the button and waited.

 

 

Tony came to on Titan.

“You okay, Stark? You’re looking funny.”

It was Quill.

“Yeah, I’m good just, just the wound.” Tony stuttered. Making a smooth entrance under these circumstances was impossible.

He looked down. The stab wound was a little bigger, and more to his right side than he remembered. He knew where the scar had been, and this was definitely different.

_Oh well, it’s probably just hard for things to happen exactly the same was as last time. Probability and stuff, right?_

They were in a slightly different place on Titan, too. The donut ship was more tattered, and almost completely destroyed.

_Maybe a rougher landing this time around?_

Tony looked to his side. Something was off.

“Where’s Peter?”

The Guardians looked at one another.

“Right here, man,” Quill said strangely.

“No, I mean—"

“Something is happening…” Mantis’ words were all too familiar.

Tony froze. This was the moment.

No one moved. No one breathed.

Mantis trembled. Quill looked down at his hands. Drax winced. Strange remained serene. And Peter? Still nowhere in sight.

Were they about to fade? Had it failed? Tony’s mind began to race.

But then, the uncomfortable shifting stopped.

“That was weird,” Quill said, all too casual.

“He is dead,” Mantis said, without emotion.

And just like that, Tony sighed. He released tension he had forgotten he was holding, tension that had lived in his muscles for the past three years.

“We won? We won,” he practically cried the words.

The Guardians helped one another to their feet, and Strange approached Tony. “So you found the only way?”

“Strange, you sly son of a bitch.” Tony paused. “Thank you.” All joking was gone from his voice.

“Now what’d you do with my kid? He’s supposed to be right here, unless I sent him home in this reality?” Tony asked, growing concern apparent in his tone.

Strange responded with a quizzical look. “Your kid? Uh…you don’t have any kids.”

“No, you know what I mean, ‘my charge.’ Peter.”

No recognition flashed across his face.

“Parker. Peter Parker. Spider-Man?” Tony’s breaths were now erratic.

“Wh-where, how, he was here. He’s been with me for three years. He’s, he’s from Queens. He fought in the—in the,”

“Stark. Calm down. Breathe.” Strange was ushering him to a seated position.

“I—you, in the future, you knew about him. How do you not remember?” He sputtered.

“I believe you. But something must have gone wrong. Something must have been changed, and that’s why it’s different now.”

“I stuck to the plan. I didn’t change anything. I didn’t interfere with him, I promise,” Stark’s panic was becoming desperation.

“Calm down. I can find him. Do you have anything that belongs to him?”

Stark didn’t hesitate. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an Iron Man Lego figure. He always had it on him. Peter had been embarrassed when Tony saw it. It had fallen out of Peter’s pocket on the compound, and Tony had bugged him about it for months.

“Will this work?”

Strange got to work. Tony bandaged up his wound with nano-tech, and bid farewell to the Guardians.

Minutes later, a green portal was awaiting before him.

“Hurry, the distance is too large. I can’t hold it for more than a minute,” Strange said, straining.

Tony jumped through, followed by Strange.

 

 

They landed in the parking lot of Midtown High. A stone’s throw away from them, a group of kids stood clustered on the track.

Tony spotted him in an instant, and stepped forward without hesitating.

His torso met a firm hand. “Don’t.”

Tony looked at Strange, fuming.

“Not until we know what happened. If we’ve already disrupted the timeline, we don’t want to meddle further.”

So they stepped into the shadows of a nearby tree and watched. It killed Tony, not to be able to talk to him, after all this time. But the fact that he was alive, smiling, made him relieved.

Peter stood with Flash stretching against the bleachers.

 _That’s weird,_ Tony thought. Flash and Peter were definitely not on friendly terms his senior year.

A familiar face flashed by, walking toward the bleachers. Ned. He looked like he was passing Peter’s group by, without a word to him. _Odd_ , Tony once again noted. But then, out of nowhere, Peter extended his foot. Ned tumbled under the intentional gesture, and Peter and Flash let out a wild laugh and high five.

“What the hell?” Tony said. “That’s, that’s his best friend. That’s not him. I—”

Suddenly, a Mercedes pulled up, rolling down its windows.

“See ya later, loser,” Peter laughed at Ned, turning to walk toward the car.

“Hey sweetie, how was practice?” the driver called.

“Hey Mom, ‘s alright.” As Peter turned to close the door behind him, his eyes met Tony’s.

A flash of recognition crossed his eyes, and Tony held his breath. He remembered him? Tony prayed a hasty, urgent, desperate prayer.

“Holy shit, Mom, it’s Tony Stark!” Peter yelled. “Flash, look!”

Tony sighed. _Nope_.

“We should go,” Strange said. Seconds later, a portal appeared, leading them to the Avengers Compound.

 

Tony stared blankly ahead. Something was definitely wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

“He was orphaned as a kid, and his Aunt May took him in. May Parker, try that.” Tony spoke erratically to FRIDAY—not JARVIS (man this was throwing him off). Strange had gone, transporting himself to Wakanda to recover the Time Stone and assist in undoing the damage done to Vision.

“This is a lot damn harder without the records of this, which exist _somewhere_ , in some other damn universe or reality, because I swear I’m not making this up,” Tony fumed, to himself more than FRIDAY.

“May Parker,” FRIDAY announced. “Married to Ben Parker, living in Queens, New York.”

“Yep, that’s them. Ben, is he living?” Tony quickly responded.

“All records indicate Ben Parker is still living, Boss.”

Tony sighed. So Peter was okay (but kind of an ass). His parents were alive. His aunt was alive, and Ben, he was alive, too. He had gotten Peter back, sure. But had he really? Was Peter really back? It didn’t feel like it.

Somewhere along the line, something had changed. Tony turned on BARF, closed the doors to the conference room, and closed his eyes…

 

It had been 10 straight hours combing through his BARF footage. His head throbbed. Pepper had interrupted him three times. The first time, to encourage him to eat something and celebrate the victory (to which he had angrily responded, “It’s not a damn victory until I fix this.”). The second time, she was legitimately concerned.

“Are you sure you’re not, I don’t know, maybe imagining this, just because of the circumstances. I mean you said you went back in time, which I’m not saying I doubt, but maybe that had some…effects? On your memory?” She had tread carefully as she spoke, knowing he was reactive right now.

“I’m not making it up, Pep,” he had practically yelled. “I swear.”

The third time, defeated, she had merely popped in to announce that Rhodey and the team were on their way from Wakanda, set to arrive to the compound in two hours. She had reminded him that Ross would be knocking on their door not long after.

“Ross can go to hell,” was all he had said. “I’ll be in here.” Pepper hadn’t budged. “Just get Happy to keep him busy if he shows up,” he finally added with annoyance.

“Tony, you let Happy go three years ago. After the plane heist.” Pepper said with concern.

“Damn it,” Tony cursed. The plane heist. No Spider-Man. Right. “Why the hell did I do that? Call Happy, tell him I need him. Tell him it’s not his fault.”

“You’re really starting to worry me, Tony,” Pepper stated as she slowly headed out the door to fulfill his odd request.

Now, at hour 10, he was about to lose it. He had scanned every detail. He went back over it one more time, for grin’s sake. He was hardly paying attention, and as the memories played he heard the sound of a child crying.

 _Morgan’s up,_ he thought, moving to head to the nursery. He was so tired that his muscle memory kicked in automatically.

 _Oh._ He stopped in his tracks. There was no Morgan. There was no nursery. And there was no Peter.

He sighed, and zoned back into the BARF footage. The cries were from the kid, the one he saved (one of hundreds of people he had saved in the course of the footage).

Wait.

There was something different about this one. He sounded like Morgan. He…he wouldn’t have noticed him if it weren’t for all the time he had spent around his little girl. So…2012 Tony surely wouldn’t have noticed it, wouldn’t have heard the subtle sound of a child crying. 2012 Tony wouldn’t have saved the kid. 2012 Tony wouldn’t have saved…his parents.

Tony’s eyes opened wide, and he focused all his attention on recalling that scene. He hadn’t caught a glimpse of the kid before he crawled under the car, but in that moment, he didn’t need to see him. He knew.

“FRIDAY, pause it. Run facial recognition on the adults.”

He waited.

“Individuals identified as Richard and Mary Parker,” FRIDAY reported nonchalantly.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Tony sat, astonished, finally removing the BARF sensor from his head. “They died in New York.”

According to the plan, he was supposed to be presenting to the Avengers in two hours, showing them with BARF what was supposed to happen to Thanos, showing them how they had actually won today. That was what the remaining team had agreed upon before Tony left them, that they would like to know the truth.

But the thought of undergoing BARF again with his killer headache, and the thought of pretending like the day was saved when Peter was gone just didn’t seem right. He walked over to the kitchen in the common area, looking for pain killers to help him think straight. The realization of the former scene still sat heavy on his clouded mind.

As he swallowed the last of the pills, Pepper walked in.

“Hey,” she paused. “Tony, are you okay?”

“Pep, I figured it out. I, I messed things up.” That was all he could say.

She moved closer for a hug. “You won, honey. Enjoy it. From what you said, it would’ve been pretty bad, otherwise.”

“We won. But we lost a lot, too, and no one notices it but me. Pepper, Peter was…he was great. He was a star student, and a fine…Avenger. And he…”

“He’s still alive. You saved him. If he means so much to you, that should make you happy,” Pepper interjected.

Tony swallowed. Peter was alive. He had a family. He looked happy. Who was he to complain about that?

“It’s just, he’s different. It feels like he died, anyway.” Tony didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “And it was bad, but it wasn’t all bad. After The Snap. People were nicer. The world was, sad, yes, but…we cherished every moment. And we, you and me,…” he hesitated.

“We what?” Pepper pried.

“We had a daughter.” Pepper’s subtle gasp stopped Tony in his tracks. “Like the dream I told you about in the park. This morning, wasn’t it? When I told you about wanting kids.”

“Tony, we never talked about it. You never seemed interested, and I—uh, wow, I can’t believe...” Pepper was flustered.

Tony hadn’t talked to her about having kids? Was that…was that also some consequence of not having Peter around? Surely, Peter wasn’t the reason he had thought about kids…right?

He paused, and then continued. “Morgan, was her name. You were a beast in the delivery room. And you were—you are—you will be, uh,” Tony stuttered a bit, “a great mom.”

“I—I don’t know what to say.” Pepper responded.

“I can show you. If you want to see,” Tony offered after a long pause. Screw his headache.

He took her hand, feeling oddly nostalgic. He wanted to be able to share those memories with her. But without her understanding, it felt like he knew two different Peppers, like their happy life together was inconsequential, unreal.

Pepper nodded. The room grew dark, and then, a series of memories played.

Pepper telling Tony the news. The non-alcoholic champagne.

“I love you,” the memory-Tony whispered to her as he kissed her.

A baby crying. Tony holding Morgan in his hands, bringing her over to Pepper’s side.

“She’s beautiful,” memory-Pepper said through tears.

Morgan’s first steps. Walks through Central Park. The park was emptier than normal, after The Snap.

Their fights before Tony went back in time.

“You don’t have to do this,” Pepper yelled. “You can just stay here. We’re happy.”

“Honey, I can’t. I…I want to, but I have to fix this.”

Tony waking up in a cold sweat, screaming. “Peter.” Pepper looked at him with concern.

 

 

Tony coughed, interrupting the memory sequence.

“Sorry, that was probably a lot.”

Pepper held onto his side, eyes wet. “No, it was, it was a gift. I—I can’t believe, th-thank you.”

Tony’s eyes met hers.

“Can you show me Peter?”

He hadn’t expected her to say that. But like Morgan, he wanted to share his memory of Peter with someone. Just to make it feel a little more real.

The room darkened again.

Tony stood in a small, messy room. “So what’s your MO? What gets you out of that twin bed in the morning?”

“When you can do the things I can do, and you don’t, then when the bad things happen, they happen because of you.” A young kid sat on his bed, eyes intentional and nervous.

“Underoos!” Spider-Man flung into sight, snatching Cap’s shield.

Next, the kid flew through the air, tossed aside by a giant Ant Man. Tony rushed to his side. “Kid, kid, you alright?” Peter woke with a start. “Same side, same side.”

They were on top of a building.

“What if someone had died today, huh? Different story, because that’s on you. And if you die, I feel like that’s on me. I don’t need that on my conscience.”

The boy shifted uncomfortably, eyes tear-stained.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, sorry doesn’t cut it.”

A memory of an alert from FRIDAY. The plane incident.

“You WHAT?”

“It just, kinda fell on me. So, I, uh, lifted it.” Peter responded.

“Oh, Peter,” Tony answered.

Next, Tony was in the lab. “FRIDAY, what’s he up to now?”

“Vitals are normal, Boss. You’re helicopter parenting.”

A series of memories flashed by: Thai food with his aunt, working in the lab together, training at the Compound.

Then, a donut-shaped space ship.

“FRIDAY, give me a little juice.” Tony’s voice shook. He hated flying toward space.

“Pete, you gotta let go, I’ll catch you.”

“But you told me to get the wizard.” He gasped. “I can’t breathe.”

“We’re too high. You’re running out of oxygen.”

“That makes sense.”

Tony gasped as the kid fell limp.

Next memory.

“Speaking of loyalty…”

Tony turned around to face Peter, aboard the ship. They went back and forth.

“I just thought of shooting a web and then it kind of happened, and this suit is super intuitive, so if anything, it’s kind of your fault I’m here.”

“What did you just say?”

“I take that back.”

“Don’t pretend you thought this through.” He sounded so…paternal.

“I did think this through.”

“Yeah, and now you’re in space, exactly where I didn’t want you to be,” Tony said, interrupting Peter’s frantic banter. The fear in his voice was audible.

“You can’t be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there’s no neighborhood…Well, that doesn’t really make sense, but you know what I mean.”

Tony paused, sighed, and exhaled. There was no changing it now. The kid was with him.

“So what’s your plan?”

 

 

The room went dark again. Tony was still.

“I, I can’t,” he whispered, his voice strained.

Pepper reached up and took his head in her hands. “It’s okay, Tony.”

A cough echoed through the room.

Tony turned to see Dr. Strange standing in the corner.

“Jesus, Strange. How long have you been there? Ever heard of knocking?” Tony barked out.

“Sorry, I—uh hello, Miss Potts, good to see you again.” Pepper gave a strange nod of acknowledgement in return. “I have been here a while. But might I suggest you continue. The Snap. Peter. I’d like to see it.”

“I’m going to show The Snap later. You can wait, with the rest of the team,” Tony answered defensively. This was hard enough to go through once.

“Tony,” Strange’s tone was serious. He stepped closer. “I want to help you get Peter back. If there’s a break in the Timeline, that’s on me. Let me help you.”

Tony’s anger died in an instant. He didn’t need any more encouragement. Without a word, he continued.

 

 

Dr. Strange’s face faded away. Before they could fully process it, a voice resounded from behind Tony.

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony’s head turned, slowly, cautiously.

“I don’t feel so good.”

Tony froze. “You’re alright.”

“I don’t—I don’t know what’s happening.”

The kid’s legs began to crumble, and he leapt forward in a desperate attempt to reach Tony, who reached out and caught his fall.

“Please sir, please. I don’t—I don’t wanna go. I don’t wanna go.”

Tony could only hold him for so long, his own wound and the boy’s fading limbs taking their toll. He lowered him gently to the ground.

“I’m sorry.” And like that the boy was gone.

Tony was on the ground. And not just memory-Tony—real Tony was shaking.

Pepper bent over to him. He was gasping, but the memory played around them nonetheless.

“He actually did it,” Nebula’s voice boomed in the distance. But it may just as well have been background noise.

“Breathe, Tony, breathe.” Pepper snatched the BARF device from off of his head, ending the memory.

 

 

The team would be there any minute. Tony knew he should be excited to see them, to be reminded that they had survived, but somehow, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t actually a victory.

“Tony. A word?” Strange approached Tony where he sat.

Tony only nodded.

“I’d like to offer you a do-over.” He said it matter-of-factly, no explanation.

Tony cocked his head to the side. Surely, he didn’t mean…

“I can’t see the future the Dr. Strange from your reality saw, now that the path is different. But I can bet anything that that path I saw, the way I was expecting, didn’t end here. We can’t tamper with natural law. We can’t bring the dead back to life, whether or not we meant to,” Strange continued.

“You talking about Mary and Richard? Because we’re doing a shit ton of bringing the dead back to life, so I don’t quite follow,” Tony responded.

“Undoing The Snap is a matter of maintaining natural law, a law that Thanos attempted to violate—or did violate, I suppose, in your reality. But Peter, that’s different. What if I were to erase you from history, or Captain Rogers? When it comes to the Avengers, we must protect their existence. Too many lives depend on them.”

“So what are you saying? Go back and kill them?” Tony asked, half bewildered, half surprised. He had never thought his mistake could be…reversed.

Should it be?

“I’m saying…you could try again. Without intervening, this time. Let history play its course,” Strange stated.

Tony pondered it. If he could somehow get back to the Battle of New York, if he didn’t intervene, then sure, Peter would be back. But also, Tony would forever bear the weight of his parents’ deaths, and of the path he would start him on, including Ben’s death later on.

“I, I can’t put him through that much pain again knowingly.” He barely found the voice to say it.

“Sometimes the greatest pain forms the greatest character.”

Tony was silent. He was right.

“So what do we do then, Doc?”

Before he could answer, the elevator opened. Steve led the crowd of heroes that flooded out.

“Cap, good to see you again,” Tony noted casually. Steve shot him a quizzical look.

“Oh, yeah, last time we saw each other was Siberia, I guess. No hard feelings,” he added.

Suddenly, alarms blared.

“JARVIS, what the hell was that?” Tony asked. “I mean, FRI—” before he could correct himself, Vision spoke up.

“Secretary Ross and a team of armed assailants has breached the perimeter.”

“Shit,” Tony responded. Cap looked around suspiciously, too preoccupied to correct his language.

“C’mon, we tired. Do we really needa do this now?” Sam whined, engaging his armor.

“Stark,” Strange interrupted. “As much as I’d love to play a game of cat and mouse with the Secretary, I think you know what to do from here.” He extended his hands, the Time Stone glowing green.

“Waaaait. Wait a second. Are you--? Can we chat please first? You always do this and just expect I know what you’re—”

Before Tony could finish his thought, he got the sensation of being flown backwards.

 

 

When he opened his eyes, he was back on Titan. He sighed. This shit was getting real old.

He took in his surroundings. Tattered donut ship. No Parker. This was earlier in the day, new reality.

Thanos stood before him. About to impale him.

“Whoaa, hey there buddy,” he practically yelled. “Don’t stab me yet.”

Thanos paused, his eyes curious.

Tony’s mind raced. Why this moment? How could he undo things? Something had to change. He had to get back to….square one. The stone.

“Your Space Stone,” he spat. “I messed with it, back in New York. Because I knew you’d get it. Let me fix it. Or else it’ll kill you when you get Vision’s stone in Wakanda and try The Snap.”

Thanos was silent, surveying his face for any spark of a lie.

“See, you can trust me. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge, yadah yadah. Point is: no tricks. Just, don’t kill me. Strange will give up his stone if you spare me.” Tony’s eyes met Strange’s, who looked at him with a quizzical gaze.

“Right, Strange? The only way. This is it.” Tony pleaded with him. “Give him the stone. Please. You sent me here to do this.” He said it desperately.

Strange paused, like Thanos, assessing the veracity of Tony’s words. And then, remarkably, he revealed the stone, and passed it silently to Thanos’ grasp.

As the Titan roared with newfound strength, Tony removed the device from his pocket. He didn’t remember putting it there, so he assumed Strange had found it and sent it back along with him.

“Here, you can do it. Put it next to the Space Stone. When it glows, it’s reversing the flaw.” Tony handed him the device.

And, much to his surprise, he took it. Seconds later, eyes still filled with confusion, Thanos used the Space Stone and evaporated without another word.

 

 

“Something is happening…” Mantis’ words were all too familiar.

Tony froze. This was the moment.

No one moved. No one breathed.

Mantis trembled. Quill looked down at his hands. Drax winced. Strange remained serene. And one by one, they faded to dust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you figure out it was the kid from New York in Chapter 2? Wasn't sure how obvious I had made it... :D


	4. Chapter 4

In the moment, the decision was easy. Force The Snap. Start from square one. Wait for Strang and Scott. Go back to New York. Try again. Problem solved. 

But a week later, it didn’t feel so easy, when he returned to earth and saw the carnage for the second time. It was different this time. This time, it was truly all his fault. He could’ve stopped it. 

He skipped past the grief stage this time around. After all, this wasn’t his first rodeo in utter loss on a universal scale. Maybe he could be better this time.

He hugged Pep a little tighter. He encouraged the team a little more. He made Cap look like a Negative Nelly with his optimism, his hope. 

But he still felt pretty shitty inside.

Going to Peter’s memorial service probably didn’t help. It wasn’t ‘til a few months after The Snap, because the demand for memorial services was so high. Everyone had to wait their turn.

He slipped in, hat down low and glasses covering his eyes. He saw May, crying into her sleeve. Ben was gone, presumably dusted. Peter’s parents held each other and wept. 

Tony stared at the back of their heads, while Flash read a eulogy. Tony stopped listening, having decided the Peter he was describing was not the Peter he knew. Not at all. So he studied Peter’s parents. He wondered about their lives together. Did they love him well? Would they have approved of Tony’s role in his life? And May…was she different, without him? Without having suffered the loss of her husband and Richard and Mary? 

Tony was so lost in his thoughts that he hardly noticed the crowd walking out. It caught him off guard when, all of the sudden, Mary parker stood before him, grabbing his arm. 

“Tony Stark?” she gasped. 

Tony shot upright. He wasn’t expecting her face to look so much like Peter’s. He couldn’t speak. 

“I don’t know if you remember this, but during the Battle of New York, all those years ago, you saved our little family. We were surrounded. They almost got us. But then, out of nowhere, you came in and you saved us.” 

Tony’s breathing picked up. 

“Our little boy is gone now, but we haven’t forgotten. We owe you for so many years of good memories with our Peter.” 

The second he heard Peter’s name, he lost it. 

“Sorry ma’am, think you’ve got me confused with someone else.” Tony managed to say, his voice cracking, as he sprinted away. As soon as he rounded the corner outside, he threw up onto the sidewalk. 

 

There was nothing to do but wait. And think. Boy, did Tony think. 

He poured his time into the Space Stone—ways to make it better, ways to make their plan more foolproof. He was trying to prepare for the day Strange and Lang showed up (which he was counting, by the way). 

So he tinkered in the lab. All day. All night. But that could only last so long. Eventually, he couldn’t tinker the problem away. He needed Strange and Lang, so his work would have to wait for them to arrive. 

He focused instead on spending more time with Pepper. She had been thrown off by his casual attitude toward everything. He had been going through the motions, but being with Pepper reminded him to actually live. Sure, these years would cease to exist soon, but that didn’t mean they weren’t real now. 

At first he didn’t want to have a kid, not anymore. Not again. Why invest love and life in something that would inevitably fade away in two years time? But as months trickled by with Pepper barely getting out of bed, he reconsidered. Who was he to deprive Pepper of the happiness motherhood would bring her? 

He waited a little longer than with Morgan, but eventually, they welcomed a little boy. Peter. 

He didn’t tell Pepper about Peter Parker, not this time. Tony didn’t want her to know all he had done, all he was going to do, to erase their time together. To get him back. It was his secret, and it both consoled him and tore him apart.

Those years were a strange limbo. Tony felt like a mirage of himself. Any joy he experienced never lasted. Any sadness was inconsequential. As he went to bed each night, his reflections on the day were always overshadowed by the fact that it would all be gone soon. He would remind himself this nightly. It wasn’t real, not in the end. 

When Scott and Strange showed up, right on schedule, he felt like he had woken up. 

It was go time. Part 2. 

He didn’t tell them about Peter either. He didn’t want to change anything, not now that they were in the end game. So they constructed the device, faster this time, too. 

And Tony added one significant adjustment: the defect would not take effect until after The Snap had been accomplished. By their calculations, that would mean half of the universe would only start to fade, until the defect won out and the process ceased. A minute detail, a slight delay, but important, given what Tony had seen last time The Snap failed. 

Tony had to fight long and hard to win that argument, but he was convinced. A world where people didn’t see how close to destruction they came was a worse-off world. People needed to appreciate one another like they did after The Snap. And maybe this close-call would give them just enough reason to be thankful for the little things. 

He didn’t tell Pepper about the plan this time. Mainly because he didn’t want to see her heart break like that again. He didn’t have the strength to argue with her again, to defend all the crimes he had committed and would commit. 

So, when the day arrived, he got up out of bed, went to her side, and kissed her on the head. She stirred slightly in her sleep. 

“I love you, Pep. I’ll see you soon, ok?”

“Mhmm, love you too,” was all she said. 

Next, he went to the nursery and stood over Peter’s sleeping form. He wondered, what if this reality continued to exist when Tony went back in time? What if he was leaving Peter and Pepepr without him? What if quantum travel just made multiple realities? He sighed. Now was not the time to contemplate the existence of multiple parallel universes amid quantum time travel. Strange had assured him it would be okay. There was just one timeline. Now wasn't the time to question it.

He reached down, caressing the side of his face, and kissed his head. “I love you Peter.” After a moment, he added, “I’m sorry.” 

Who was he to manipulate existences at the snap of his fingers. He was no better than Thanos. 

 

“Tony,” Steve met him as he entered the lab. “Stay sharp.” 

“You ready, Stark?” Strange asked, as Scott checked levels on the portal. 

“As I’ll ever be.” 

 

It was easier the third time around. Tony had less quips and was more business, but he stuck to the plan. He followed his BARF memories to a tee. All but one, that is. 

When he heard the crying—Peter’s crying—he stopped in his tracks. 

Mary’s blood-curdling screams pierced the air.

“Hurry, get under the car, son,” Richard urged him. 

Tony figured it wouldn’t hurt just to look, if he was discrete. So he turned and faced the car. And he watched. 

He owed it to Peter. If he was going to let it happen, he deserved to bear the load. He deserved to watch what he had caused. 

It was quick. When the aliens tried to reach under the car, Tony tensed. But their arms weren’t long enough and they gave up, turning the corner toward Tony. He didn’t hesitate now. He blasted them apart with a single, powerful beam. 

It was the least he could do. 

And as he emerged from the attack, he saw him. Crying. Sitting on the curb, eyes watching his. Peter.

He would recognize the little boy from a mile away. His eyes were the same. His hair was curly and floppy. His knees were scuffed, and his Iron Man t-shirt was covered in dirt. 

Tony froze. He knew he had to be diligent with the timeline. If he didn’t help him then, he couldn’t help him now. 

He wanted to at least apologize. Or encourage him. Or say something….anything. But he wouldn’t allow himself even that, for the sake of the future Peter he hoped to be reunited with soon. 

So he blasted away, leaving the disheveled boy alone and crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think! What do you want to see in Tony's development? What about when we're reunited with (nice) Peter?
> 
> Comments make my day!


	5. Chapter 5

Tony hated going through the worm hole a third time. He hated sneaking in, hacking SHIELD, holding his breath has he altered the Stone. He just wanted it to be over. So as soon as Thor and Loki beamed up into the sky, without another word to anyone, he pressed the button. It had been almost 6 years, not that anyone else noticed. He was ready to finally win.

 

Tony came to on Titan. 

“You okay, Stark? You’re looking funny.”

It was Quill.

Tony gasped. He looked down at his stomach. The stab wound. It was right where it should be. The ship, as well.

“Whoa, whoa, breathe Mr. Stark.”

Tony turned to the figure holding him up, arms braced around his back.

“Oh thank God.” He stopped and turned to face Peter. “Peter, you’re okay.”

Peter looked at him quizzically. “Well, yeah, I mean I’m not the one who took a giant blade to the stomach, so all in all, I’m pretty good—are, are you okay? Oh God, is this, is this a blood loss thing? Did you pass out? Are you, are you, do I need to—”

“I’m fine. I’m fine, kid, slow down,” he assured Peter. “I just, just wanted to make sure you’re okay. It was a tough fight. You took some big hits.”

“I, I should have been better,” Peter said in a defeated voice. “I would’ve been there to help you, but I hit my head and when I woke up, I…I’m sorry, Mr.—”

His sentence was interrupted by Tony’s quick correction. “Nope. No. Don’t say it. I don’t wanna hear it. You did great, kid. And you’re never allowed to say the word sorry again or else--.”

“Something is happening…”

Tony froze. He hated this part.

No one moved. No one breathed.

Mantis trembled. Quill looked down at his hands. Drax winced. Strange remained serene.

Tony’s eyes turned to Peter. This time the Snap was going to work, a bit, at least. What did that mean for Peter?

Tony cursed himself for making this plan. Yeah, appreciating closeness to death, yadah yadah. But he already appreciated it. He didn’t need to see it again.

 

And he sure as hell didn’t want to see Peter go through it another time. Once again, Tony had created his own worst nightmare.

“Mr. Stark?”

Like blades in his ears.

“I don’t feel so good.” Peter staggered toward him. Tony knew every step he took. He had replayed a thousand times.

So this time, he slapped himself out of the stun. Before Peter could take another step, he rushed forward and caught him, cradling his head in his hands.

“Peter, listen to me. You’re going to be okay. It’s gonna stop.”

“I don’t—I don’t know what happening. Please sir.”

For once, Tony didn’t feel powerless at his words. “I know. I’m gonna fix it. It’s gonna stop.”

Peter trembled in his embrace, but his legs stood steady. Tony watched as little flakes came off his suit. Time seemed to stand still, as he held Peter and comforted him, running his hands through his hair as the boy cried.

The seconds seemed like days. Tony held his breath. What if….

And just like that, there was a muffled boom, and energy reverberated through the air. Peter shook, his face gaining color and his eyes opening widely.

As he groaned and blinked around him, his legs gave out. Tony checked as he caught him—his legs were still there. The flaking had stopped. The poor kid was just exhausted and scared.

Tony positioned him on the ground, his torso leaning against Tony’s, who crouched beside him, hand across his back.

“You’re okay. See? I told you. No dust. It didn’t work. Thanos is gone.”

Beside him, Quill looked at his hands in amazement. Dr. Strange looked up calmly and met Tony’s eyes. A slight nod was the only indication he gave, but Tony could’ve sworn he saw a subtle smile.

“Man, that was scary,” Peter said, wiping the tears from his eyes, only somewhat embarrassed about the fact that he had just sobbed into Tony’s arms. “Was I, were we…about to…die?”

Tony hesitated, rubbing circles on his back. “Something like that. But we fixed it. We won.”

Peter couldn’t quite control his emotions, and Tony didn’t blame him. Feeling your existence start to unravel was scary, he’d bet, even if it got stitched back together in the end. Without much prompting, the kid burst into tears. And this time, Tony intervened. This time, he held him closer and wrapped his arms around him. He thought of the little boy on the street. He thought of Morgan and baby Peter. He thought of all the years he had lived his nightmare, waiting for this moment, when they finally got it right.

“C’mere kid.”

 

The flight home with the Guardians had been a long one. Tony wished Strange could just transport them back the easy way, but “a portal of this distance, for that many people, would almost certainly result in disaster.” Tony rolled his eyes.

Once they got going, though, he didn’t mind. It had been six years, after all. He had to make up for lost time—with Peter.

“And then, out of nowhere, the space ship just explodes!”

The kid was on a tangent, relating their space journey to every scene out of Star Wars he had ever scene. Tony was too happy to stop him. And Peter could talk to a wall about this stuff.

A few hours later, the length of the journey finally settling in, Peter was fast asleep, leaning against Tony. The ship jumped a bit, and he awoke every so slightly.

Opening his eyes and turning to his side, he shot up. “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, I—I didn’t mean to--”

Tony quickly shut him up. “Kid, go back to sleep. Use my shoulder. And stop calling me Mr. Stark. You just almost died in my arms, so we’re well past formalities.” Peter didn’t respond, caught off guard by his forcefulness. But Tony followed his statement with a smirk and ruffled the kid’s hair. Peter relaxed enough to let out a breath and cautiously returned his head to Tony’s shoulder.

Within ten minutes, he was sound asleep once again.

This moment, Tony thought, made it worth it. Six years of waiting. Six years of planning. Time and time again of failing…but now, they got it right. Now, his Peter was alive and well, his chest rising and falling. Tony could see it. It wasn’t a dream. They had won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-dah. This was a fun lil thought experiment. I'm happy ending it here, but if there's anything more y'all want out of this storyline, let me know in the comments. Def open to suggestions!


End file.
